new coat for brunnhilde

I have been considering buying a cover for Brunnhilde ever since summer. The thought of manhandling such a large cover on the 11 feet high vehicle have been the cause of my indecision.

From my research the class B RV cover sold on eBay by elitecarcovers that claims to fit Airstream Westfalia looks most promising. Reading between the lines I suspected it is a generic class B RV cover. It was $225.52 with $20 shipping.

Seeing the vendor's name I thought I would see if it has a website outside of eBay. Sure enough it does. Trouble is they only have one type of class B RV cover, and there is no mention it is the same one sold on eBay. There are 4 sizes with identical width, height, but different length. I suspected that the shortest one must be the same one on eBay. It is $20 cheaper and with free shipping - a net $40 saving it is the same cover.

Months passed and now it is rainy seasons here. I decided to give them a call. A Hispanic sounding lady answered the call and I immediately cut to the chase on my question. She acknowledged it is the same cover. I expressed some reservation on it fitting the 11 feet tall camper. She checked her purchase history of the Airstream Westfalia and said she did not see any reported problem. Knowing with only 250 in the US I would be wasting my time expecting they have actually outfitted one on it.

While the cover's 117" height is much shy of 132" actual height of the vehicle I was counting the camper's narrower width than the cover's 84" width would allow the cover to drape down a few more inches to make up on the apparent dimension deficit. The other main concern is the protruded bump of the high top front. However I figure the 20 feet length of the cover for the actual 18.5 feet vehicle length would give extra slop to accommodate the bump. I ordered the cover online.


It took a bit over a week to arrive from Florida (as the lady said where it would be shipped from) to arrive yesterday.
always a happy sight to see a package at the front door

It was raining so I would not be able to try out the fit on Friday afternoon. Fortunately the forecast for today shows a break in the drizzle. I open the box to examine the cover.
it comes with a nice drawstring storage bag

The cover is made of grey and white fabric engineered for vehicle cover applications. Most car cover manufacturers use these generic fabric which I gather is produced by only a few manufacturers. Without unfolding it, I can see the workmanship of the cover is very high.

2 colors of fabric used

4 nylon straps and the storage bag for them

there is even a label indicating the front side of the cover

So far so good. I could not wait for the next day to arrive to test fit the cover.

Saturday came but it was still very wet from the overnight rain. I moved Brunnhilde to the middle of the driveway so I have plenty of room all around to work. I erected the scaffold and used a damp cloth to wipe dry the vehicle including the top. I wanted to remove all trace of grits that can cause abrasive damage under the cover. I had been concern with the boomerang TV antenna and considered removing it. However I decided to see how it reacts with the cover.

Even with the scaffold erected at the highest setting (actually one rung above the manufacturer's warning label) and being 6-foot tall it was a struggle to heap the pile of cover to the top so it would stay put to be unfolded.
i used 2 ladders and a scaffold

the hardest part done

Once the cover is laid well on top he rest is relatively easy. It took a bit of tug and pull to even all sides. As I expected the height is a bit shy to cover all the painted surface. It however only exposed the textured anti-pitting paint skirt. I found it quite acceptable not being a custom cover made just for the Westfalia camper's extra foot height over the tallest standard Sprinter.
the rough test fit - it is as good as i can hope for

It turned out the cover is designed to fit up to the tallest Sprinter. The cut and the location of the zippers show that. All counted, there are 10 zippers for accessing various parts of the vehicle.
zippers for accessing the bonnet (the yankees call it hood)

closeup of the zipper and the reinforcing velcro webbings to keep the zipper from unzipping

tie down straps and the gusset for the snap-on buckle

straps to take up the slack at the rear

there is even a clip to hold the excess loose webbings

zippers for accessing both front doors

2 zippers on each side of the vehicle for the sliding door

2 zippers for access both rear doors

 Satisfied that the cover is a keeper, I unzip the two front zippers to get enough visibility to move Brunnhilde back to the normal parking spot.
tugged up enough to move the vehicle

with brunnhilde in the parking spot i spent a bit more time even out the cover and dressed up the loose straps

The TV antenna turned out does not impose any problem as long as one is careful. The cover is quite light so there is very little stress on the antenna or the fabric. Being cut specifically to fit the Sprinter the fit all around is very good. A cover too loose can cause abrasive damage in prolonged windy condition.

I used a garden hose to spray generous amount of water on the cover to see how it handle wetness. The water beads up and roll off the surface like hundreds of quick silver balls. The fabrics shed water readily as if they are coated with Teflon. As it is designed to breath to protect the paint so water do get through the fabric.
water beads and run off the fabric - white fabric forms bigger beads

  grey fabric forms smaller beads

The white fabric that is used on the top surfaces is less porous than the grey fabric on the sides. I test this by blowing hard through the fabric with my lips. It also seems to shed water more readily than the grey fabric. I infer the fabric manufacturer intended the less porous white fabric to be used on horizontal surface where water tends to accumulates.


In all for $205 the cover is an excellent fit and finish. Being designed once and mass produced for Sprinter the cut is as good if not better than a custom made one due to economy of scale. It has generous tie-down fittings. Additional straps can easily be added to make the front more taut.The fabric should perform well in rain or in hot sun.